by S J Lomas
Kate snapped her face toward Dorian. “What?”
“Not to sound insensitive but it sounds like if a guy kisses you, he’s history. The boyfriend, the asshole at the party. It’s gotta just be a horrible coincidence though. Your crazy mom is just playing mind games with you.”
“I shouldn’t have expected you to understand,” Kate pulled her hands out from under her knees and crossed her arms over her chest.
“No, I mean you’re being too hard on yourself. Don’t let a bitter psycho keep you isolated.”
Kate looked out the passenger window, seeing nothing. Perhaps she shouldn’t have allowed Dorian to make her feel so comfortable.
“That’s easy for you to say,” she said, trying to hold in the tears.
“Ok, let me tell you the truth,” he said. “I noticed you the first day of freshman year. While I was wandering around trying to find my third period class, I accidentally bumped you in the hallway. You gave me this gorgeous smile and apologized, even though it was totally my fault. I thought you were really pretty but totally out of my league. I guess you could say I’ve had a crush on you since then. If you can trust me, I want to prove that you’re not cursed.”
Kate turned back to Dorian.
“Are you making fun of me?” she asked, anger sparkling in her eyes.
“No! I’m trying to tell you that after everything that’s happened tonight, I want to kiss you.”
Dorian pulled into Kate’s driveway and parked the car. Shutting off the headlights, the two of them sat in darkness.
Kate’s heart pounded like a jackhammer against her ribcage. She couldn’t deny that she liked the weight of Dorian’s jacket on her shoulders or that his smell eased her nerves. Even though they hadn’t talked before the party, there was a large part of her that wanted to kiss him.
“What if something happens?” she whispered.
“It won’t,” Dorian assured her.
She knew she shouldn’t do it. She’d already had a dangerous evening. Now that she was warming to Dorian, why risk everything for a stupid kiss? But Halloween was still conspiring against her. The moonlight filtered through the window and illuminated Dorian’s lips. They looked so gentle and welcoming as they formed the words, “Can I kiss you?”
Kate barely felt the subtle nod of her head but Dorian leaned in slowly, never taking his eyes from hers, searching for the smallest signal that she wanted him to stop. The signal didn’t come, so he pressed his lips to hers as delicate as a butterfly landing on a rosebud. Kate relaxed against him and kissed back, drinking in the hope that this was the first of many kisses she and Dorian would share.
They pulled away slowly, eyes locked on each other. A faint smile played on Dorian’s lips.
“Easily the best kiss I’ve ever had,” he said. “And I’m still here.”
Just as Kate parted her lips to reply a flash near the rear of the car caught her attention. In the second it took to turn her head toward the flash, a hand, covered in what looked like medieval armor smashed through the driver side window and grabbed Dorian around the back of the neck. His eyes bulged and his mouth gaped wordlessly. An identical hand smashed through and tore the seat belt from Dorian, like plucking a petal off a daisy. As the hands began to drag Dorian through the smashed window, Kate threw her arms around his legs and buried her face into his knees.
“Leave him alone!” she screamed.
The hands let go of Dorian and a face appeared at the window, the same helmeted face that had attacked the football player at the party. She didn’t hear the words in her ears, but a deep, synthetic voice echoed in her mind. It had the deep, sinister tone of a slowed down audio track. “Let go of him,” it instructed her. “I’m not here to harm you.”
Dorian scrambled away from the window as best he could, and clung to Kate. There was no bravado about him anymore.
Kate stared into the dull red eyes peering through the skull mask. Without using her voice she attempted to communicate with the monster as he had with her. “If you hurt him, you hurt me,” she thought. “Go back to Brenda and leave us alone.”
There was a quiet moment as Kate and the monster stared at each other. The last thing she remembered was a white light filling the car and the sound of shattering glass.
* * * * *
Kate blinked in the bright fluorescent light. Liquid ice flowed through her veins, chilling her entire body. She raised her hand to rub her eyes but was stopped short by a pinching sensation at her wrist. She looked down and discovered an IV taped to her wrist, running a cool liquid into her blood.
Her father, sitting in a seat next to her bed leaped up and folded her hand in his own.
“Thank God, sweetheart!” he said. “Do you feel any pain?”
“Where’s Dorian?” she asked.
Her father cocked his head. “What was that?”
“Where’s Dorian?” she repeated, attempting to sit up further in the bed.
Her father’s eyes darted around, looking for a place to focus. “Well honey, there’s been an accident…”
“What do you mean ‘accident’?” Kate leaned forward, not minding that her hospital gown slipped off one shoulder as she did.
Her father bit his lip, hesitating as he wondered whether he should tell her right off the bat.
“Tell me!” Kate demanded, squeezing her father’s hand with a surprising strength that made up his mind.
“Well, you’ve been in a car accident, honey. Lizzy’s brother was driving you girls home from that Halloween party and-“
“No he wasn’t,” Kate cut in. “They ditched me, I was with Dorian. Where is he?”
Kate’s father sucked in his lips like he was in pain.
Kate wriggled her hand free from his. “You have to tell me what happened to Dorian. Is he…” She couldn’t finish the question.
“Honey, I don’t think it’s good for you to get so worked up right now.” He glanced around the room as if he could find help somewhere in the small sterile cube they found themselves in.
“Tell me!” she shouted, clutching the thin hospital blanket in her fists.
Kate’s father glanced around again and gestured toward the door. “Hold on, Kate, I’ll get a nurse.” He pivoted 90 degrees to get to the door and when he did, Dorian was revealed, standing directly behind him. As soon as he met Kate’s eyes, he put a finger to his lips to keep her from saying anything. Her father hadn’t seen him.
Kate’s relief was so overwhelming it brought tears to her eyes. As soon as her father had cleared the door she began whispering to Dorian.
“What happened? Are you ok?”
Dorian grinned. “I’m here, aren’t I?”
Kate returned his smile. “I don’t remember what happened though. Why am I here? Did you get hurt?”
“Shhh,” said Dorian. “Don’t worry yourself. We’re both here, that’s all that matters.”
Kate was too happy to see him to question any further.
Dorian moved toward the side of the bed. Kate blinked. The lights in the room reflected off the white walls causing things to look fuzzy. She hoped she wouldn’t have to stay there much longer.
“Now that you don’t have to be afraid, there’s something I want to do,” Dorian said.
“What’s that?” Kate asked, pretty sure she knew what he meant.
Dorian closed his eyes and leaned in. Kate closed her eyes and waited to feel the warm softness of his lips for the second time. Instead, she felt a chill breeze. She pulled back and opened her eyes. Dorian stood there, eyes still closed, an inch from her face.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
Dorian’s eyes opened. This close, she could see that his irises were not the cool green they were supposed to be. They were black. As was his hair, that was supposed to be dark brown. And his jacket, and his jeans. Anything on him that wasn’t black, was white. There was no healthy pink undertone to his skin. No tiny red veins in his eyes. Only black and white.
“What�
��s the matter?” Dorian asked, standing up straight again.
Kate pressed herself against the bed, mouth gaping. A sound like a drafty window whistled up from her throat.
“Kate, what’s wrong?” Dorian asked, a strong note of urgency in his voice. He attempted to place his hands on her shoulders but they sank right through, causing him to leap back and Kate to shiver hard. Dorian held his hands up and looked at them. They locked eyes, for just a moment, as the realization of what had happened sunk in. A raw, wailing cry rose from both of them and filled the space of the tiny room.
A pair of nurses came running from down the hallway and pushed Kate’s father out of the way as he stood, peering into the room, tears streaming down his face. As the nurses worked to sedate Kate, her father remained in the hall wondering if Kate was more like her mother than he’d dared to believe.
The End
If you enjoyed this short story, you’ll love my full length YA duology, Dream Girl and
Dream Frequency, available on Kindle, Nook, and Kobo. Follow me on Facebook and/or Twitter to stay informed of my new projects. Thanks for reading!
Dream Girl Reviews:
“This intriguing story is told from both Christine's and Gabriel's point of view in alternating chapters. This will appeal to fans of the Abandon series by Meg Cabot.” Deborah L. Dubois, Voice of Youth Advocates (02/01/2014)
"Told in very short chapters with alternating points-of-view, Dream Girl tells an enticing story of friendship, adventure, and determining one's path in life. The writing is simple, but emotions run high, and you can feel Christine and Gabriel's confusion and frustration as they try to deal with otherworldly happenings."
Reviewed by Randy-Lynne Wach - San Francisco Book Review
"A heady combination of romance, adventure and intrique..." - Michael Lawrence, award winning author of The Aldous Lexicon
Dream Frequency Reviews:
"Lomas's prose is solid and boasts excellent descriptions. Certain aspects of this novel's premise have appeared in other books, but they haven't appeared all together as they do here. And the combination works, making this feel new and fresh." - The BookLife Prize
"It was an ingenious story with great writing craft to tell a fanciful story." - Jessica of writingpearls.com